Scandalous Truths Revealed in U.S. Diplomatic Documents

After having made public military documents that exposed war crimes committed by America in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, WikiLeaks has now come to release confidential U.S. diplomatic documents. WikiLeaks has put online approximately 250,000 confidential U.S. State Department cables exchanged with American embassies all over the world for the past three years, and passed them on to the top five global media outlets, such as the New York Times. Although the White House has condemned this incident as a “reckless and dangerous action,” the leak that has lifted the filter from the scandalous hidden side of the U.S. has great significance for a country that claims to be a bastion of free democracy.

The released documents show that U.S. embassies around the world have resorted to illegal measures to gather intelligence on their resident countries. There were even secret orders from the Secretary of State to collect information on various leaders and top U.N. officials, such as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The demanded information included network passwords used by the subjects, correspondence, credit card numbers, DNA, fingerprints and even iris and full-body recognition information. It was also made known that the U.S. did not hesitate in conspiring with the Yemeni government to deceive the international community, hiding the fact that U.S. jets were involved in a missile attack on an al-Qaida base in Yemen.

This is not the first time the U.S. has been caught in such a situation. Confidential U.S. government documents have long since shown that America is willing to take all manners of criminal action if it is ultimately for its own benefit. The U.S. brought about the Gulf of Tonkin incident during the Cold War as an excuse to bombard all of North Vietnam. It also overthrew the Allende government in Chile while supporting the military action to crush the pro-democratization movement in Gwanju, South Korea. The only thing WikiLeaks has really done is confirm once again that the U.S. has not changed this kind of behavior.

If the U.S. does not change its nature, it will be unable to earn the moral support of the international community. The U.S. must sincerely reflect on its behavior and begin to set itself straight. Korea must now bear in mind the two-faced nature of the U.S. in maintaining diplomatic relations with its government.